1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to technology for specifying the positions of predetermined characteristic portions of a face image.
2. Related Art
As a technique for modeling a visual event, an active appearance model (also abbreviated as “AAM”) has been known. In the AAM, for example, by performing statistical analysis on the positions (coordinates) and pixel values (for example, luminance values) of predetermined characteristic portions (for example, an eye area, a nose tip, and a face line) of a plurality of sample face images, a shape model that represents the face shape specified by the positions of the characteristic portions and a texture model that represents the “appearance” in an average shape are set, and a face image is modeled by using such models. According to the AAM, any arbitrary target face image can be modeled (synthesized), and the positions of the characteristic portions in the target face image can be specified (detected) (for example, see JP-A-2007-141107).
In the above-described typical technology, there is room for improving the accuracy of specifying the positions of the predetermined characteristic portions of a face image.
In addition, such a problem is not limited to a case where the AAM is used and is a common problem when image processing is performed for specifying the positions of predetermined characteristic portions of a face image.